Macari Vineyards 2017 Early Wine is our Wine of the Week

With Thanksgiving behind us and the winter holiday season right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about holiday parties — hosting, attending and maybe even crashing them.

What should you serve? What should you bring? It can be hard, specially if you don’t know all of the attendees and what they like in terms of wine.

This week’s “Wine of the Week” Macari Vineyards 2017 “Early Wine” Chardonnay ($20) is a great pick for a variety of reasons.

First, it’s chardonnay. A lot of people like chardonnay.

Second, you read that right — 2017. This will be guests’ first taste of the new vintage. Inspired years ago by the jungwein (young wine) of Macari’s consulting winemaker Helmut Gangl’s homeland, Austria, head winemaker Kelly Koch has really dialed this wine in in recent years.

It crackles with acidity and offers aromas and flavors of lime, green apple and citrus blossom. There’s a gentle sweetness here, but all that fresh acidity helps it finish dry.

And lastly, it’s that balance of sweetness and acidity that makes this wine so appealing to a diverse range of palates. Have friends who like slightly sweet wines? They’ll like this one. Have friends who prefer their wines dry, or maybe even claim to hate any sweetness? The acidity here deftly keeps that sweetness in check.